Madigan made this northern crossing of the Simpson Desert in 1939. Our route follows his expedition. All his overnight camps are now marked by a star picket and a small engraved disc. We can't actually visit all of them as some are on private property.

We camped here at Madigan camp 1a. (I would have to do some research to find why it is 1a)

Climbing to the top of the dune gave a view of these mesas in the distance. I am sure they are not sand dunes.

As well as the full moon I managed to get some budgies in shot. You will have to trust me there are budgies.

Well this is a sign so it must be the start of the Madigan Track proper.

Left to Right

Ann Collard, Cedrick Dudgeon, Deb Mahoney, Jen dudgeon, Bruce Mahoney, Ian Collard, Leanne Laundess, Mark Laundess.

Budgies on the way to camp 5.

I was fascinated to see that on this dry barren rock outcrop  some of the stones had green lichen growing on them.

Lots of large spider webs and of course spiders along the track.

I wonder how many explorer motorhomes have been on the Madigan Track?

I was pretty happy with this night shot.

We had a fire every night. There is no collecting of firewood along the Madigan but we had stocked up with wood on the way in.

The nightly fire was also used as the days rubbish disposal. The ashes were buried the next morning.

Here I am by myself after everyone else had gone to bed.

I decided I had better get some photos of the flora. I already have a dozen sunset photos.

This is a "Bush Tomato" I had seen it in flower but I don't recall seeing the fruit before.

This small tree/bush doesn't seem to have traditional leaves just these green stems.

This is the bird flower.

See the flower does look like a bird.

Camel Poo.

While not fresh Camel Poo is very dry and small compared to Cow Poo. They retain as much moisture as possible.

The full moon rising at the end of the day.

Heading towards Madigan's Camp 8.

The spinifex is really dominating now, even the swales between the dunes are covered almost exclusively by spinifex grass.

Camp 8 was amongst a grove of "Georgina Gidgee". I have done some  googling at home and yes Georgina Gidgee - Acacia Georginae appears to be different to plan old Gidgee - Acacia Cambagei.

Not the most welcome visitor to camp. Particularly as Cedric who spotted him was wearing thongs at the time.

No one was hurt in the encounter, not even the snake. Turns out it is called a Ringed Brown Snake. This is about as big as it gets and yes it is venomous.

The gibbers on this clay pan near camp are almost black.

The camels have been here before us. (Camel Footprints)

It must have rained here in the past!

"Clifford" amongst the spinifex. - a lunch break at Madigan's camp number 10.

There were these lizards living in the spinifex. Some form of dragon?

Not sure why but some-one had been dropping matches all along the track. Usually just one patch of spinifex had been burnt but here the fire had managed to get away.

A nice photo of the spinifex grass in seed.

Yes Tony it is a nice sunset.

No I think I have enough sunrise sunset photos this trip.

Oh alright.

We have camped overnight at Madigan's Camp 13.

The well dressed gentlemen we met yesterday  - ("Stubby" shorts only no shirt and not even a pair of thongs barefoot) are camped near by . I don't think they are going to let us get too far away as they know we have a satellite phone Tony is intending call the Birdsville cop to find out road conditions before heading south to Eyre Creek and Birdsville.